Although their sense of smell disappeared quickly, it returned just as quickly, and thirty minutes later the two of them, along with Alice and Sylphia and my father, were eating food that had been brought from the diner.
Oliver and Rosie seemed very hungry, and as soon as they said thank you for the food they stuffed their mouths full.
“Rosie, please eat more slowly.”
I was so worried that Rosie would choke that I had to call out to her.
After finishing eating, they both seemed to get sleepy, so as they started nodding off, I followed Sylphia’s instructions and hurriedly sent them to the bathroom before going to bed.
Even though I had only just fed them, they felt strangely tired.
“Wow, it feels like an animalistic movement, is this normal?”
“It depends on the child, but generally it’s not strange behavior.”
“That’s true. Even the younger orphans at the temple get sleepy after eating and some even fall asleep. If they’re really hungry, it’s normal for small children to eat with their fingers.”
I see, is that normal?
If my father and Sylphia said so, then this was probably not the result of being transformed into a monster, but was within the normal range of behavior for a child. For the time being, there was nothing we could do about it since they had fallen asleep, so I carried Rosie and my father carried Oliver as we returned home.
“That’s right, Dad. Didn’t I get a letter?”
“It was only addressed to me by the alchemist, not to Amelia.”
“…I see.”
When I went inside the house and turned on the light with a magic item, I asked my father, who told me there was nothing, and I was a little disappointed. Since there was no letter from Theo in the morning, I thought that maybe it had arrived by night, but it seems that Theo is too busy to send a letter.
“Were you waiting for a letter from someone?”
“Well, I sent a letter yesterday, so I was wondering if I’d get a reply.”
“It wouldn’t have come so early before, would it?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Normally, exchanging letters would take more time. It only feels slow because we’re using the magic circle to send them, but normally it’s not like we’d be able to contact each other in the blink of an eye.
I was just really tired today, so I wanted to get a little boost from Theo.
After parting ways with Alice and the others, I went back to my room and wrote a magic circle on the wristbands that the children were wearing so that only I could remove them, and registered my magical powers. I’m glad I studied this area again when I made the letter box. Otherwise, I would have had to start researching at this time of night.
I redesigned the wristbands and attached them to the arms of the two sleeping people. They are much smaller than my hands and are likely to break.
“Ah, there are no meatpads.”
I only know the word “werewolf” but I have never actually seen one myself. So I don’t know exactly what a werewolf looks like. But I think it was a bipedal monster that sometimes used tools. If that’s the case, having paws on the palms of its hands would be a hindrance.
As I looked at their physical features, a bad feeling suddenly crossed my mind.
What if?
What should I do if their appearance remains fixed in this state even after the swelling of the magical energy construction organs has subsided and the blockage in the magical nodes has been removed?
That means that these two are human but have the form of monsters. That would surely be unacceptable in today’s human society. No matter how much I shout that it’s absolutely safe, I don’t think everyone will be convinced. In that case, would I have to kill them?
Or will I continue to take responsibility and raise them in this village? But how will they feel when they grow up and realize that they are different from the norm?
When I start imagining it, I start to worry whether my current choice was the right one.
It would be painful for the children to think that it would have been easier for them to have died instantly, without knowing anything about it. It is my ego that forces me to help someone who has no will to live.
“…Let’s calm down. There’s no point getting anxious about an uncertain future. The trees will return to normal once the maga is gone, so this should be reversible.”
The monsters are irreversible, but the plants are. I don’t know why, but I hypothesize that it’s because the trees aren’t monsters, but are stuck in a monsterized state.
The trees had obviously spat out an abnormal amount of mana. In other words, the highly concentrated mana was causing changes in their bodies, but the system didn’t allow it to build up inside the body to the point where it was irreversible. So they returned to normal.
On the other hand, animals do not have organs to release mana. Therefore, it is stored in the body. …No. Are we sure they don’t release it?
Again, I am reminded of human physiology.
When a person is transformed into a monster using drugs, excess magical power is expelled from their body through the act of excretion. This act of excretion is something that happens on a regular basis, and although the amount varies, magical power is usually excreted. So, although I haven’t actually looked into it, I think that the mana taken in when eating and drinking, rather than breathing, is excreted.
So it’s not like it’s not excreted at all.
What is interesting is that unlike when you are at the center of maga and are exposed to high concentrations of mana and become a monster, when you are attacked by a monster and become a monster, the amount of mana around you is normal. However, your magic nodes are clogged and your body changes as you try to create more magical power than necessary. Mana is needed to create magical power. Therefore, the mana that is taken in continues to be converted into magical power as much as possible.
And to maintain that body, an abnormal appetite develops. I thought this appetite was due to a need for a lot of energy to transform the body, but it could also be due to a depletion of mana.
I just write down my disorganized thoughts on paper.
So what is it that is stuck in the magical node? A blockage that causes the magical energy construction organ to swell. I could see it through the glasses, so I assumed it was a blockage of magical energy, but the glasses can see more than just magical energy; they can also see mana.
Is mana getting into places where only magical power should be able to pass, clogging them?
“At the moment, I can think of three things that could be stuck inside: ‘unusual magical power’, ‘mana’, and ‘unusual mana’. That is, if there’s anything else that can be seen with the glasses…”
For now, the idea that there is unusual magical power or unusual mana is just a hypothesis. All we know is that there is something that is clogging the magic nodes.
“In the first place, maga is the condensation of mana. I wonder why something like that happens? Now that I think about it, were there lines running across the ground? Those look similar to a human body.”
I’m pretty sure my father called it a vein.
…Could it be that the maga erupts from a clogged earth vein that causes it to overflow? And the place where it erupts is called maga?
Could this blockage be the cause of the blockage in the magic nodes inside the body?
The reason trees don’t turn into monsters is because they have roots in the ground and are not saturated with high concentrations of mana even when they come into contact with it?
“That’s no good. I feel like I’ve gone beyond the realm of hypothesis and am reaching the level of delusion. Uuuu. I’m sure when I look back at this later, Grandpa and Dad will point out a lot of things to me.”
I put my face on the desk and groan.
I can’t help but worry, so I’ve tried thinking about other things, but it’s gradually becoming more like a delusion than speculation.
My father told me that it was good to have lots of ideas, but to always consult with those around me. … Should I tell my father about my current thoughts?
“If only Theo was here.”
Theo is an amateur in the field of research, but he can give me ideas that I would never think of, and I’m sure he’ll listen to my delusions without laughing. I’m sure he’ll notice the strange parts as we talk, and if I can come up with an assumption that I can be confident about to a certain extent, it will be easier to consult my father about it.
I don’t think my father would laugh, but I’d like to have a buffer between us.
“I want to talk to him about the children.”
I’m sure Theo would think about it with me. As he said he was once bullied, Theo doesn’t do things that upset people.
“…I want to see you.”
It’s not that I want it to be solved in any particular way.
I just want to talk for a bit, but the royal capital is so far away that I can’t even talk for a bit.
“…Let’s go to bed already.”
I sighed softly, then looked up and prepared to splash holy water on the doorknob and window frame.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!
